Is anti-Semitism Libertarian?

Some disturbing news reported by Raw Story. Two-time Presidential Republican Presidential candidate and former Congress Member Ron Paul is slated to be the headline speaker at a conference in Canada hosted by the Fatima Center. The group is alleged by the Southern Poverty Law Center to be: the single largest group of hard-core anti-Semites in North America.

The news story goes on to point out:

Other speakers at the conference will include John Birch Society President John F. McManus, which has been accused of contributing to anti-Semitism for decades. “All speakers share one thing in common: a keen understanding that the nations of the world suffer profound disorder, that evil and shocking immorality are on the rise, that war and violence steadily increase, that the stability of our entire social order is at stake, and that a solution to the present chaos is of utmost necessity,” a statement from the Fatima Center said. In 2008, the "New Republic" reported that newsletters published in Ron Paul’s name revealed “decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry against blacks, Jews, and gays.”

While, admittedly, the orientation of the Southern Poverty Law Center tends to be to the Left and hardly approves of anything that takes place on the Right, the group has done very good work locking horns with the Ku Klux Klan in the South. I think their article pointing this out is worth considering due to my twelve years in the libertarian movement the last four of which I served as an officer of the Arizona and Maricopa County Libertarian Parties.

What is pathetic is that rather than cancel his appearance and denounce Fatima Center's hatred of Jews, Paul chose to go on the defensive. The Free Beacon reports Paul responded stating his critics were engaging in demagoguery and falsehoods but Paul stated he is looking into the allegations. Not surprisingly, the conference's organizer and a Fatima Center leader denied he was an anti-Semite but in the same vain questioned the Holocaust in a similar manner that Holocaust deniers do.

Anti-Semitism is the elephant in the room in many libertarian circles. The latest in thing is to criticize Israel and Zionists (another way to slander Jews) in which many people I interacted with in the libertarian social circles I perused when it came to Israel many libertarians repeated talking points rather than facts. I must admit I originally subscribed to such notions until I actually educated myself about Israel and the conflicts in the Middle East. Yet someone (libertarian or not) spouting off claims about Israel and the Middle East often does not know what they are talking about. Ron Paul and Lew Rockwell have been conduits for conspiracy theories that included hostility to Jews, blacks, and gays in which Paul had full knowledge of this.

Another example is Ron Paul accusing Israel of being an apartheid state and stating Gaza was a concentration camp (of which both accusations are false). Many libertarians subjectively think Paul is right and take what he says as gospel rather than checking into the facts themselves. Not all libertarians are anti-Semites but the dirty little secret of the Rockwellian Nexus that makes up groups like Antiwar.com, the Ludwig Von Mises Institute and Future of Freedom Foundation is that not only are conspiracy theories a continuous theology disseminated in intellectual circles that center around these organizations but anti-Semitism or untrue criticisms of Israel are part of the mix. They become a kind of theology that helps rationalize their bias against the American Empire (so-called).

I have no doubt that anti-Semites make up some of Paul and Rockwell's major contributors and, in turn, help finance Lew Rockwell's ventures. Despite Paul's claims of being a libertarian, by sanctioning an anti-Semitic conference as a keynote speaker Paul is endorsing such notions despite anti-Semitism being another form of collectivism. If Ludwig Von Mises (who was Jewish) was alive and he knew who was being done in his name I have no doubt he would disassociate himself from the activities of Paul, Rothbard, and Rockwell after a well deserved spitting in their faces.

Yep! same guy. At the risk of thread hijack (which I REALLY do not want to do), a couple of comments.

1) The "Hasiddic Rabbis" videos happen to be of some of the most bizarre Jews on the planet; namely the Neturei Karta. Without going too "inside baseball", these guys believe hat the current State of Israel actually precludes the coming of Moshiach. In a kind of a maztoh ball version of Inquisition Era Catholic leaders killing the body of an apostate to save the soul, they buddy up to those who would kill every last Jew on the planet, (other than them?) to bring on the end times. In short, they are NUTS.

2) Does the State of Israel act like a schizophrenic, eurocentric, socialist, nation state? Uh... yeah. Are teh Jooz manipulating our esteemed Sun King into a proxy war to obtain "Greater Israel"? Hell, no. The world give the "Elders of Zion"(of which I am a member of Standing) too much credit.

More another day.

And now, a musical interlude:

And a little homework: http://www.zionism-israel.com/his/judeophobia.htm

Comment by Norm Nipperus

Entered on: 8/27/2013 8:44:58 PM

Andreasen? The one who started me on the road to Libertarianism some 15 -20 years ago? How the hell are ya? I'll bet it's you. I hope you and your family are doing wellgood. I remember your Yarmulke. Good to hear from you.

Until Aipac got away with rejecting Ron Paul from speaking with the other presidential candidates I was all pro-Israel, Pro-Jew, Pro-Zionist, anti-Jimmy Carter. Now that's been changing a bit. I'm beginning to give some thought to anti-zionism and to being pro-Jimmy Carter. I am now considering that it may have been the Jewish freedom fighters that ran out the Palestinians unprovoked. I'm wishy-washy about it all because it's a complex issue with which I really don't want to get involved with. It's just not my fight.

I'm not to thrilled with Israel attacking Syria. It's possible that it was done to to provoke our King Obama to war. Dare I risk asking if these are the kinds of actions, this kind of cleverness, that have brought so much hate to the Jews over millenia from many nationalities? If it is so, it does not justify even attempting genocide as a final solution.

I'll bet you are aware of the following two Utube videos. One shows a group of Hassidic Jews meeting with the Iranian president Ahmadinejad(?). Suprisingly, they show a lot of respect and appreciation for each other. The other video is of a small group of Hassidic Jews at some street corner demonstration speaking of the past friendship and trust that existed between the Jews and Palestinians before their eviction. They speak of having trusted each other with their 'most valuable treasure' each other's children during each others spiritual holidays. These Hassidic Jews in the second video were anti-zionists. Very eye-opening for me.

Dr. Ron Paul is not anti-semitic or anti-Jew. Would an anti-semite prominently display portraits of well-known Jews in his office and express appreciation of them as Dr. Ron Paul has? (Murray Rothbard, Ludwig Von Mises). Of course not.

As for me, there's at least a couple of more Jews I admire, Milton Friedman being one.

Comment by Doug Nusbaum

Entered on: 8/27/2013 8:32:52 PM

have no doubt he would disassociate himself
from the activities of Paul, Rothbard, and Rockwell after a well
deserved spitting in their faces.

Huh??? Rothbard has been dead for about 15+ years, and he was a Jew, and not known to be a Jew hating Jew.

As to Pure trust. --- One of those words with no meaning when applied to HUmans. Really --- Pure. But purity is a value characteristic of ignorant right wing people who want a government small enough to fit inside a womand vagina. --- Apparently Puretrust did not notice that in all cases anti-semite included the definition of being anti-Jewish, and since in most first world countries there are not enough Arabs to matter, and since its original use in English Speaking countries was to refer to those who were hostile to Jews, I think it safe to keep that meaning, and not revert to humpty dunpty language usage.

As to weapons inspection. How is that relevant? The Jews said NEVER AGAIN. They meant it. At least in so far as they will not sit buy and allow millions of themselves to be killed again, at least not without exacting great cost.

Nice though. The Arabs, being a kind of very tribal, racist and ignorant people given to killing are doing what they do best --- killing. Because of Iron dome, and similar measures, they can no longer kill Jews, so they are doing the next best thing. Killing each other. With the help of the Mossad of course. All this Arab spring stuff is really just a nefarious plot by the Mossad to get the Arabs to destroy each other. Makes it easier for the Jews to take over.

Being able to read, the Jews read "the art of war". Why go to the effort of fighting an enemy, when, with a little effort, you can get him to kill himself :-) Especially if he is not to smart to begin with, and has demonstrated a complete lack of ability to learn almost anything.

Comment by J E Andreasen

Entered on: 8/27/2013 4:17:20 PM

Thank you, Mike for taking the nut-punches. I am sure you anticipated them, but still... Personally, I avoid the term "antisemite", given that it is proven effective at creating the kind of microcephallic grousing we all hear in response. The term was coined by a brazen Jew-Hater expressly and openly to allow the propagation of Jew Hatred in so-called"polite company". It works superbly.

OTOH, I would be happy to engage anyone in civil discourse on the subject of Jew Hatred, its current & disingenuous form called "Anti-Zionism", irrational fear and loathing of the modern State of Israel (warts and all), etc. They can find me if they really want to.

I suspect that perverted rage, cock-sure moral equivalence, and resentful sniveling meets most of their needs, however. That is the nature of these folks for the last 3600 years.

Comment by Georgia Vasiliou

Entered on: 8/27/2013 3:52:13 PM

Arabs are also Semitic people. Therefore,how could the presumably Arab folks at the Fatima Center be anti-Semitic?

Comment by J.t. Waldron

Entered on: 8/27/2013 2:54:27 PM

This article contains a flawed premise.
That criticism of Israel and Zionism is a means of slandering Jews.
Absolute bullshit.
Also, how much credibility does an outfit like the Southern Poverty Law Center have based on the relatively benign groups they label as Anti-Sematic?

Comment by John Simmermon

Entered on: 8/27/2013 2:04:06 PM

Israel is the only Mid east country that won't allow UN Weapons inspection , then they point their finger at Iran.
I'm sick of being labeled Anti Semitic because I don't agree with their Gov't policy.
Just go back to the 1967 borders and apologize on the way out.

Comment by Ed Price

Entered on: 8/27/2013 12:24:56 PM

What do you mean by "Semite?" Say what you really mean.

What's a Semite? From http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/semite?s=t

Sem·ite
[sem-ahyt or, esp. British, see-mahyt] Show IPA
noun
1.
a member of any of various ancient and modern peoples originating in southwestern Asia, including the Akkadians, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hebrews, and Arabs.
2.
a Jew.
3.
a member of any of the peoples descended from Shem, the eldest son of Noah.

World English Dictionary
Semite or ( less commonly ) Shemite (ˈsiːmaɪt)

— n
1. a member of the group of Caucasoid peoples who speak a Semitic language, including the Jews and Arabs as well as the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, and Phoenicians
2. another word for a Jew

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When you search for alternative history about Caucasians, you will find that they are the 10 tribes of ancient Israel (as opposed to Judah and Benjamin) that migrated through the Caucasus Mountains, westward, to Europe, becoming the Europeans. From there they colonized America, driving the Native Americans out, or subduing them. (There are those of the group that populated western Russia and northern Asia.)

The words "Semite" and "anti-Semite" are being used by the Jewish Semites to rob you of knowledge about your ancestral relationship to God Almighty.